Of Flags, of Doors, of Keys and More
by Ari Powwel
Summary: [one-shot, dedicated to le Cope] Remember those days, once clear and fine, when friend and foe were matched alike in a playful game of Capture the Flag? Though those days are past, we still remember and wish to remain in those days forever . . .


**Okay**. Fun story that I wrote in English class all last school year. I only realised now that I hadn't posted it yet, and decided to, because it still manages to make me giggle. Yes, I am stupid. Yes, I am happy right now. Good 'nuff? Also, I added a few extra characters into Destiny Islands. I'm not claiming they'd be there, I'm not claiming they wouldn't be. But . . . they're there, anyways.  
**. . . [chatters** for a bit] But last year in English, we had to write journal entries. I started this in that journal, only able to write a paragraph or two every Friday (though a couple times, I _did_ stretch an entry to a full page so that I could finish an idea), but when we had our journals checked and I hadn't updated that Friday (instead using Free-Write to rant about something), I received a note from my teacher telling me I had to finish the story before I left her class. So this one's for you, Mrs Cope.  
**And** for anyone who's reading Moribundum Fatum, my major project right now, expect an update soon. As in, within the long weekend. I'm on page eight of writing right now, I just need to wind the chapter up.  
**I** suppose I won't bore you with my chatter anymore, but as a final comment, _nok nerk!!_ (and if anyone understands that, I will STARE at you. o.o;)  
**Ownership** rights aren't mine. Kingdom Hearts isn't mine. Deal with it, kay?

* * *

Of Flags, of Doors, of Keys and More

He crawled through the underbrush slowly, silvery hair almost glowing as he moved, stealthily approaching his target: a head of brown spikes before him. He knew Sora (the brunet) wouldn't see him so long as he kept quiet; the boy's back was turned to him.

He reached out to tap Sora on the shoulder, careful not to let the leaves concealing him rustle—it could alert the younger boy to his presence. As his fingers brushed Sora's shoulder, about to press down on his short-sleeved 'jacket', the brunet sneezed, and the hand darted back into the bushes to clap over his mouth. It wouldn't do to have the russet-haired boy knowing of his presence, ne?

As Sora looked around, most likely for him, Riku slowly crept forward again. He waited, waited until the opportune moment . . .

He pounced, tackling the younger boy to the ground. 'Go!'

From the Secret Place near the waterfalls, a few figures emerged, running toward the Seaside Shack. Riku watched them, forgetting that he had a hold of Sora.

Next thing he knew, he'd been flipped, hands pinned under him, and Sora was sitting on his back, shouting, 'On the island!'

Riku struggled, but the sand under him provided no help. He could only watch as Sora's team flowed onto the island and several battles sprung up.

Determined to help, Riku twisted his leg up, catching Sora in the side with the heel of his shoe. The younger boy toppled off, and Riku jumped up, drawing his wooden sword from where he'd buried it in the sand. He smirked as Sora retrieved his own sword, and both settled into their sparring positions.

Both boys stood stock-still, silently facing the other as a cloud hid the sun. Riku's sword was held before him almost casually, crossing his chest. His head was tilted slightly, eyes daring Sora to give him a challenge. The brunet was almost sitting in his own defensive stance: turned sideways, knees slightly bent, his own crudely-hewn weapon held in both hands, ready to block any shot Riku took.

As the harsh sun broke through the clouds once more, Riku bounded forward, dashing toward Sora faster than any child on the islands could hope to match. He thrust forward, expecting to catch Sora with the sword, but—

There was no resistance.

Riku pulled to a stop, the heels of his shoes digging into the ground. He turned as he stopped, waiting for Sora's strike, which he parried easily. Sora attacked again, a flurry of short strokes. Riku blocked each one, then struck back with a combination of his own. Sora blocked them, as well, though admittedly not as gracefully, and almost too late on most. He _was_ too late to stop the last attack, which struck him across the upper arm, but as it connected, Riku realized what was going on. He strove to twist his sword around, but Sora's own sword caught him across the chest, pushing him back and making him overbalance, falling to the sand, lying on his back.

Riku summoned his strength, vaulting up and forward, feet catching Sora in the chest, knocking him to the ground instead. The boy struggled up, barely in time to block Riku's next blow. Sora then struck back once, twice, thrice—'My turn!' Riku declared, swinging his sword with his left hand, an overhead stroke. Sora skipped backwards, avoiding the blow, and retaliated with one of his own. A grin broke out on his face as Riku stumbled backward. He dashed forward before Riku could recover and placed both hands on his shoulders, shoving him hard. At the same time, Riku felt something pushing against the back of his knees.

The combined forces sent him falling over Selphie, who was crouched behind him. As he landed, the hyper brunette sprung up, her foot pressing down on his right arm, only hard enough to ensure he couldn't move. At almost the same time, Sora's large, bulbous yellow shoe landed on his left arm, and Sora crouched and pried Riku's sword from his hand, tossing it to Selphie. 'We caught you,' grinned Sora triumphantly.

After Riku got up, dusting the sand from his clothing, Sora and Selphie frog-marched him to the shack near the waterfall, opening the door and escorting him inside. The interior of the shack was much dimmer than the outside; Riku had to squint to see the figure in the corner, sitting on top of a barrel. 'You beat him?' asked a surprised Wakka, twirling a blitzball on his finger and looking at the three of them in awe.

'It was a dirty trick,' growled Riku. 'Sora would have never beat me in a fair fight.'

Wakka laughed. 'I know that—'

'Hey!' protested Sora. 'I would so!'

'—but no-one ever said anything against it, ya?'

Wordlessly, Riku sat down against the wall as Sora and Selphie left, waiting. Hopefully by now one of his teammates had grabbed the flag.

Outside the shack, Kairi crouched, leaning against the wall. The sound of the waterfalls to her right made it rather hard to hear the sounds inside. She looked to where Selphie was returning to her post, guarding the tree, and then back to her other teammates, Tidus and Rikku, a bouncy girl from another island. The last member of their team, Lulu, waited inside the Secret Place, guarding their own 'prisoner'.

'All right,' Kairi whispered, having come to a decision. 'You two go to the tree; I'm going after Riku.'

'What?!' yelped Tidus. 'You can't go after him. You'll get caught!'

Rikku giggled and murmured something in another language (most likely her native tongue, Al Behd) that made Tidus blush and push her into the waterfalls.

'I'm going,' repeated Kairi. 'Remember what Riku said: Leadership falls to me in the event of his capture. So go! I'll use the sounds of your fighting to cover me.' Without waiting for Tidus's reluctant agreement, Kairi jumped, grabbing the side of the shack and pulling herself onto the roof. From there, she scampered across quickly, pulling her weight off the roof as much as possible, clinging to the rock face beside the shack. As little noise as possible . . .

Kairi waited until she could hear the clashes of wood on the beach before opening the door to the shack's 'upper level', mindful of the creaking the door always seemed to make. As soon as it was wide enough, she slipped through it, standing just inside and gently guiding the door to the frame, so that it didn't slam.

Here would be the hardest part of her mission, Kairi realized, looking down the precarious wooden steps before her. If Wakka heard her, she'd have to run all the way back to the waterfall before she was safe. With the battles going on outside, Kairi didn't think she could make it.

She crept down slowly, stepping carefully over creaking, broken wood, holding most of her weight on the banister, which was thankfully stable. A few minor squeaks escaped the stars regardless, but she didn't think Wakka had heard them.

She _hoped_ not.

Riku immediately heard the door squeaking, even over the racket outside. It didn't seem like Wakka had noticed it, however, as the boy was still inspecting his blitzball obsessively, checking it over for any nicks. Several more scrapes reached his ears, nearly making him wince, but he was careful to keep his expression clear. If he didn't show signs of noticing anything, perhaps Wakka wouldn't notice at all.

A hand touched his arm, and his eyes flitted to the side; moving his head would alert Wakka to another presence in the room.

Kairi grinned sheepishly at his look. Riku wanted to ask just what was she thinking? but that would just have to wait.

'Hey, Wakka, check and see if your team's finished yet,' grinned the boy, attempting to distract him. 'We're gonna win.'

Because Riku wouldn't be able to leave anyway (he had to be tagged by a teammate, and then he'd have to run all the way back to his team's side), Wakka complied, looking out the door to the beach. Besides, he was curious, as well. But no, the other members of his team were still fighting, though neither had the upper hand against their opponents. Wakka turned back to tell Riku this—

But the boy was gone.

Riku and Kairi burst out of the top of the Seaside Shack, Wakka's cry following them ('He's getting away, ya?!'). It was clear that the fighters on the ground heard, for their fighting grew more furious, desperate to get away and tag Riku, effectively taking him 'prisoner' again. However, Riku wasn't going to let that happen again. Thankfully, Tidus was warding off two of their side, attacking the other when he tried to leave.

Taking Kairi's hand, Riku fairly pulled her over the roof of the Seaside Shack, jumping over a hand that snaked over the edge (when he looked back, he saw Wakka kneeling precariously on the top of the door frame, which jutted out about seven or eight inches).

Getting off took a bit more time, but that was because Kairi didn't want to use his idea, leaping off the roof into the shallow pool under the waterfalls, although he knew it would be safe. Instead, she hissed something into his ear, and Riku grinned. 'Good enough!' he told her, jumping.

The water splashed around his knees as he landed, at once moving toward the Secret Place once more. A touch of the branch shadowing the entrance, and he was running back toward the beach, scooping up his abandoned sword once more. He also grabbed a second, aiming to have a little fun with this role.

'To me!' he shouted, raising one in the air. At once, Tidus and Rikku backed toward him, so they created a small group of three.

Riku allowed himself a slight smirk as Sora, Zell, and Selphie attacked, oblivious to what was going on behind them. _Let's keep it that way,_ he said to himself, countering one of Sora's strikes. As Tidus ducked behind him, he turned, hissing, 'Don't let them turn toward the water! Tell Rikku, too.'

Tidus nodded and Riku turned, attacking Selphie to keep her from trying to circle behind.

It wasn't long before Riku saw Kairi again, grabbing the flag from the highest branch of the paopu tree. Good. They were going to win! With the paths at his own back, Riku knew that none of the other three could see what was going on behind them, which was all part of the plan.

Kairi dropped into the water with the flag, swimming toward the docks. It was a longer run to the secret place, yes, but Wakka wouldn't hear her crossing over the Seaside Shack, giving them a better chance for victory.

Riku cursed. Sora had turned slightly, and he'd seen Kairi scrambling onto the docks, navy blue flag contrasting darkly against the wood. 'On the docks!' he cried, pointing at her.

_Dammit all, Sora!_ Riku broke for the docks, still wielding both swords. He'd cover for Kairi. Sora followed him, but thankfully, Rikku and Tidus were managing to keep Zell and Selphie occupied. 'Go!' Riku shouted to Kairi, motioning with one wooden sword. 'I'll keep him busy!' If Sora just managed to touch Kairi, now, they would get the flag back, as well as Kairi as a prisoner.

Kairi nodded. 'Right!' Then she was off again, feet pounding down the deck. Riku leapt up after her and followed, always a couple feet back, waiting for Sora to try and strike.

There! Sora jumped up next to him, running as quickly as he could. At this rate, he'd easily overtake Kairi. And Riku was _not_ about to let that happen.

Maneuvering so that he was running sideways, Riku swung the sword in his left hand, aiming for his shoulder. Sora countered, stopping so that he could wield the sword properly.

Another ten feet for Kairi, who never stopped.

They both took off again, running after Kairi. Riku pulled ahead to ward off Selphie and Zell, while Sora tried once more to go after Kairi. Riku lunged back, twirling one sword overhead and swinging it downwards. Sora was forced again to stop, then to fight as Riku continued to attack. Finally seeming to decide that it would be easier to defeat Riku than to continue fighting (Kairi still had a ways to go, anyway), Sora swung his own sword, catching Riku by surprise. He raised his own sword to block, the second coming up to hit, but Selphie cried, 'Here, Sora!' and threw her nunchaku.

Sora caught them and grinned at Riku, who raised an eyebrow. _Another weapon. The question is, can you _use_ it?_

Apparently so. Sora caught one of Riku's swords with the nunchaku, using the other to slash at Riku's chest. Riku, however, was looking at Kairi, who had just touched the upper branch of the secret place, cheering, 'We won!'

The sword dragged across Riku's chest.

_**Flash!**_

The claws ripped across Riku's chest, leaving an intense cold there, in addition to the cuts that sprang up.

Riku leapt back further. That had been close. If he hadn't stepped back soon enough, the Heartless would have reached his heart. The small shadow disappeared, though, sliced neatly into two pieces by a golden Keyblade.

Riku shook his head clear, looking at the king, who stood before him.

'Riku,' he said, clearly exasperated. 'What were you doin'? That Heartless coulda killed you!'

Riku ducked his head slightly. 'It happened again.'

'. . . oh.' The king's voice was more subdued, understanding. 'How . . . _long_ was it?'

'About an hour.'

'Well, that makes this flashback thing reoccuring, then!' declared Mickey, pulling back his hood to look at Riku. 'If you think it'll happen again, it's probably best if ya just stay back. I don't want you to get killed!'

Riku shook his head stubbornly. 'No way. I can't just sit back and let you search alone.' He started off again, pushing through the pure darkness of Kingdom Hearts. Few Heartless dared cross him, and the ones that tried were quickly destroyed by his own sword, a black and red Wingblade. Nearly a year of life in Kingdom Hearts had trained him, forcing him to learn quicker, react faster. It was much harsher than any classes could ever be. He smiled grimly as he cut down more Heartless. He'd finally achieved what his father had wanted; he was now stronger than any enemy he'd meet.

Here, he was, at least.

'Hey . . . Mickey. What's that?' he asked, stopping short. In the darkness beyond, a dull grey door glinted strangely, almost as though it was producing its own dimmed light. It was extremely tall, stained glass windows near the top. 'Is that what I think it is?'

'It looks like it,' confirmed Mickey, drawing his Keyblade. The golden blade seemed to cut through the darkness like a beacon, lighting the door further—

And revealing the hundreds of Heartless that filled in the gap between.

Riku and Mickey looked at each other once. Riku raised an eyebrow. Mickey smiled knowingly.

Both plunged off the edge of the plataeu, straight into the sea of Heartless.

Riku never knew how long they fought, curing themselves and each other constantly, destroying Heartless after Heartless. He lost track of them, scratching into his skin, trying to pull his heart from his body. The sharp spines of a Defender's shield bit into his skin and he winced, grabbing the top of it to vault over, attacking from behind, striking it's weak back. The Defender exploded, and Riku paused momentarily to drip a bit of a Potion onto his bloodied hand before pouring it over his back, healing the wounds there.

'Riku!' shouted Mickey's voice. He looked up to see the mouse king standing in front of the door, about ten yards away.

He lifted his Wingblade. 'Force!' From the air, a large sphere of dark energy crackled, driving all the Heartless in its path to the ground. Riku, in the centre of the Gravity spell, dashed forward, leaping Heartless as they began to spring back up. He hoped he could make it to the door before they all converged on him; he barely had enough strength left for a Curaga spell.

As the Heartless around him finished their regrouping, all leaping toward him in one movement, Riku dove for the door, rolling, expecting to feel sharp claws upon him at any moment.

Instead he felt the cool waves of Aeroga surrounding him, warding off any attack that was launched against him. Riku walked toward Mickey once more, noticing that as soon as he was within a five-yard radius of the door, the Heartless backed off. Seeing Riku's questioning look, Mickey pointed to a shimmering, vivid violet dome, completely covering the door and the area around. 'Ya can't see it from the outside,' he said. 'But in here, it's really clear! Now, come on, Riku, we've got a door to open!'

'But I thought—'

'"Shut" means the doors are closed, not locked. We only had to lock it to make sure that Ansem couldn't rejoin the Heartless. And now that it's been so long, I don't think a mere soul could've survived, so we're safe.'

'Well—'

'Look, Riku, we've only got a few minutes to open this door. I'll answer everything once we're out, okay?'

'Okay,' Riku relented.

'Good! Now, you need to take my Keyblade and point it toward the lock. I'll do everything else.' Riku accepted the Keyblade, aiming it toward the lock on the door, while Mickey paced around, mumbling.

Soon there was a pattern etched in the ground around them, and Mickey stopped completely, holding his breath. Riku kept his eyes on the door, watching the tip of the Keyblade as power gathered to it. A bright blue light began to grow, blossoming from the edge, a thin line of power finally issuing from the tip and straight into the Keyhole.

There was a clicking sound. Riku let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, and surrendered the Keyblade once more to Mickey. The mouse rubbed his foot through the pattern on the ground, making it almost indistinguishable. Nothing would be able to use this route to follow them; Mickey had made sure of that.

Both mouse and boy stepped to the threshold of the door, which had opened slightly to emit them, and Mickey looked at Riku. 'Riku, I'm going to have to stay behind for a few minutes. You know, to shut the doors. So . . . good luck. I hope ya manage to find your way back to Kairi and Sora.'

Riku smiled. 'Thanks, Mickey. I hope you can find Minnie again, too.'

Mickey laughed. 'Oh, I will. Now, remember. No matter what happens, you must _never_ give up! _Never_!'

Riku nodded. 'I'll remember that.'

'There'll be challenges,' warned Mickey. 'There're a group of people, the Unknowns, that guard Kingdom Hearts and all passages to it. They'll undoubtedly try to stop ya. You _must_ continue on. Try to explain, but if it doesn't work, _go on_. Got it?'

'Continue on no matter what, never give up. I think I've got it.' Riku smiled wryly. 'I'll make it back somehow.'

'That's the spirit! Now, go ahead, and remember . . .'

Riku stepped into the door. Far below, he saw dark figures. Unknowns.

But for now, there was light ahead of him.

Riku stepped into the Light

And fell into Darkness.

_Live long : Die well_


End file.
